Demands, desires, and well-being: An assessment of events, responses, and outcomes

Abstract

This project investigated the impact of daily events, varying in source of causation, on reports of physical and mental well‐being in a multiple‐measurement design (5 days). Subjects responded daily to health and mood instruments and to instruments assessing event occurrence, responses to events, and outcomes of those responses. Events were either environment‐initiated “demands” or self‐initiated “desires.” Positive and negative components of well‐being are found to be differentially impacted by types of events and by the different event properties. The procedure was sensitive to the particular “ecology of events” representative of this particular subject sample. The results suggest the validity of a multicomponent analysis of both events and well‐being in a dynamic, multiple‐measurement approach. Implications for future research employing this model are then briefly discussed.